“How can I make my employees work like they own it?” That is
the question I often get from well-meaning leaders who hope to create a
strong
service culture. Well, the honest answer is that you really can’t MAKE
anyone
work like they own it. You can, however, create an environment where
they want
to. After
all that I’ve written concerning this topic, I would like to
outline, from
the employee’s perspective, the access code needed to unlock your
staff’s
desire to work with an ownership mentality. Let us begin with a doorman
in
Geneva…

The Doorman

On a recent trip to the lovely city of Geneva, I stayed at
the Beau-Rivage hotel, and was thoroughly impressed with a particular
doorman.
He was the embodiment of the word REFINED. Everything from his upright
posture,
to the way he walked with a sense
of purpose exuded that he took great pride in his work. I noticed
him
removing cigar butts from the sidewalk, checking potted plants for
trash and
giving a hearty “Welcome back!” or “Enjoy your day!” (to guests and
random
people walking by the hotel). In short, he was working like he owned
it, but it
was also obvious that no one was MAKING him do so. Of course, personal
motivation may be a factor along with his upbringing; however, I would
like to
highlight three keys that make up the access code that can unlock the
desire to
work like you own it.

Train Me…to not just
meet, but exceed expectations

From the very beginning, every employee needs to know that merely
adhering to standards (no matter how grand) is not their job. Their
real
job is to intentionally and consistently look for opportunities to
surprise and
delight. Here’s an example of a touchpoint table that I put together
for this
article:

Once the touchpoint table is
done, focus on one touchpoint per week (or one per day if you are
feeling
ambitious). Role-play, discuss, and notice when the staff is (or is
not)
adhering to the standards; then, give feedback accordingly. The goal is
to
focus on exceeding expectations. If you want your team to exceed
expectations
every, then you have to talk about exceeding expectations every day.

Empower Me…to do the right thing in
any situation

Saying “You are empowered” is
not enough. There is a very real possibility that your employees have
never
worked at a place where they have been empowered. So regularly share
examples
of when the staff (and even you) have used empowerment to surprise and
delight
customers. Go on our Work Like You Own It! site and
share those stories as well.Customers
judge the quality of your business
by the responsiveness of the first person they come in contact with to
address
their issue. Once your staff feels empowered, your job is to then
encourage
it…on a daily basis. Since empowerment really is about “caring enough”
to do
something, it is important to celebrate the “caring” just as much (if
not more
so) as the empowerment act itself.

When I was a front desk agent, a guest called to say that
their toilet was overflowing, so I empowered myself to comp their
$700/night
room for the remaining three nights of their stay.When my manager found out, she could have
yelled at me for losing precious revenue, but that would have only
crushed my
esteem and prevented me from empowering myself again. Instead, she said
“Thank
you for caring enough to do something”. She then seized that
opportunity as a
teachable moment and said, “Now, let’s discuss some other ways to
handle
similar situations in the future”. I was re-assured that I did the
right thing
by taking action and learned ways to better handle similar situations
in the future.

Tell me…how I am
doing

Your team craves feedback. It is like oxygen for the body.
When there is no feedback, performance suffers. Feedback can be
positive,
constructive or negative. Positive feedback (aka recognition) is
intended to
let the recipients know that their hard work is, in fact, appreciated.
Make no
mistake, people who work hard need to know that their hard work is not
taken
for granted. Of course, everyone wants recognition in their own way
(public,
private, written, verbal, etc).

Constructive feedback, however, is letting your employees
know when their performance did not meet the expected standard of
performance. It
is very possible for an employee to do their job improperly and not
know
because no one ever says anything. It is also possible for an
employee to
intentionally make shortcuts in their work, and the lack of management
feedback
is a green light that the shortcut is OK. One best practice is to start
with
the standard, then describe the employee’s action that did not meet the
standard. At this point, the performance gap should be self-evident to
the
employee. Finally, explain why the standard is so important and why the
employee’s
action was detrimental.

Explain to your team that one of the true hallmarks of being
a professional is steady consistency. Regardless if it’s busy or not.
Or
whether you have a headache or not…or even if your co-worker and/or
boss is
annoying you. True professionals have the uncanny ability to block out
the
“noise” and do what they are supposed to do, when they are supposed to
do it,
whether they feel like it or not. If you train, empower, and tell your
team
(how they are doing), they will be far more likely to own it, versus
you hoping
or mandating that they do so.